Creative differences steal Taylor Russell away from Michael B. Jordan's Thomas Crown Affair

Russell departed Jordan's movie—which he's both directing and starring in—more than two weeks into principal photography.

By William Hughes | July 19, 2025 | 1:51pm

Screenshot: Harper's Bazaar UK/YouTube

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Creative differences steal Taylor Russell away from Michael B. Jordan's Thomas Crown Affair

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Michael B. Jordan has been trying to get his remake of classic cat burglar romance The Thomas Crown Affair off the ground for nearly a decade now, having first started talking up the project all the way back in 2016. And things really seemed to have picked up steam of late, as Jordan embarks on a post-Sinners victory lap, with Amazon MGM picking up the movie—which Jordan will star in, direct, and produce—and cast members steadily lining up, including Kenneth Branagh, Lily Gladstone, and Taylor Russell as the all-important law-minded foil to Jordan’s suave gentleman thief.

But now, not so much, as Deadline reports that Russell has now abruptly departed the film, four months after being cast, over reports of “creative differences” on the project. No word on who said creative differences were with, although the law of averages suggests the film’s star/director has a decent chance of being involved. In any case, the part is now being recast, presumably as quickly as possible, since the film (which also stars Danai Gurira, Pilou Asbæk, and Aiysha Hart) started principal shooting two weeks ago in the U.K. So far, it’s still expected to hit its March 5, 2027 release date, despite now needing to swap out its second lead.